This is a
translation of the address Benedict XVI delivered today on receiving in
audience members of the Assembly of Societies for Aid to Eastern Churches
(ROACO).
[In Italian]
Esteemed Cardinal,
Venerated Brothers in the Episcopate and the Priesthood,
Dear Members and Friends of ROACO,
I welcome you with joy for the summer session of the Reunion of Aid Agencies
for the Oriental Churches, and my heartfelt thanks to Cardinal Leonardo Sandri,
prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches, for the greeting he addressed
to me. I return it accompanied by my remembrance in prayer to the Lord and I
extend it to the archbishop secretary, to the undersecr etary and to the
collaborators of the dicastery, with a cordial thought for the papal
representative in Jerusalem, in Israel and Palestine, for the Maronite
archbishop of Cyprus and the Father Custos of the Holy Land, gathered here with
the representatives of the international Catholic agencies and of Bethlehem
University. I express to all my gratitude and that of the whole Church, in
particular of the pastors and of the Eastern and Latin faithful of the
territories entrusted to the Oriental Congregation and of all those who have
emigrated from the homeland.
We all desire for the Holy Land, Iraq and the Middle East the gift of a stable
peace and solid coexistence. These are born from respect of human rights, of
families, communities and peoples, and by the overcoming of religious, cultural
or social discrimination. I entrust you to God, but also to you the appeal I
launched in Cyprus for the Christian East. As instruments of ecclesial c
harity, continue collaborating for the construction of justice, liberty and
peace!
I encourage the brothers and sisters who, in the East, share the inestimable
gift of baptism, to persevere in the faith and, despite the many sacrifices, to
stay where they were born. At the same time, I urge the Eastern migrants not to
forget their origins, above all the religious. Their fidelity and human and
Christian coherence depend on it. I wish to pay special homage to Christians
who suffer violence because of the Gospel, and I commend them to God. I
continue to count on the leaders of nations to guarantee in a real way and
everywhere, without distinction, the public and community profession of the
religious beliefs of each one.
Last year, on the occasion and because of the Year for Priests, I requested
that special attention be given to the ministers of Christ and of the Church.
Abundant fruits of holiness have arisen not only for priests, but also for the
whole peop le of God. I pray to the Holy Spirit that He confirm these signs of
divine favor through the gift of vocations, which the ecclesial community so
needs, both in the East as well as the West.
I am happy to see that the Catholic Eastern Churches have collaborated
zealously in the concretion of the objectives of the Year for Priests and that
ROACO’s aid works have also supported them in this area. You not only
considered the formation of the candidates to Holy Orders, which is a constant
priority, but also the needs of the clergy active in the pastoral care of
vocations as, for example, spiritual and cultural updating and aid to
priests, above all in the difficult but at the same time fruitful phase of
sickness and old age. Thus you contribute to radiate in the Church and in
present-day society the precious and indispensable gift of the priestly
service. In the ancient world, the East was the headquarters of great schools
of priestly spirituality. The Church of Antioch, to give an example, produced
exceptional saints: extremely educated priests, who did not put themselves
forward but Christ and the Apostles. They were entirely dedicated to the
proclamation of the Word and to the celebration of the divine mysteries. They
were able to touch persons profoundly in their conscience and to reach what
merely human means cannot reach.
Dear friends, with your commitment you contribute above all to the fact that
the priests of the Eastern Churches can be, in our time, echo of that spiritual
heritage. In the network of school and social institutions, which is, in fact,
one of your endeavors, it will give a strong impulse to flower in a firm
pastoral perspective. When priests are guided in their service by truly
spiritual motives, then the laity also is reinforced in its commitment to be
engaged in temporal things according to their own Christian vocation.
We now have the common task of preparing for the Special Assembly for the
Middle East of the Synod of Bishops. I thank God for this initiative, which is
already producing the beneficial fruits of “communion and witness”
for which the synod was initially convoked. Last year at Castel Gandolfo, I had
the pleasure of announcing this Synodal Assembly during a meeting of fraternal
prayer and reflection with the Patriarchs and Major Archbishops of the Eastern
Churches. During my recent visit to Cyprus, which I recall with much gratitude
to God and to those who welcomed me, I consigned the Instrumentum Laboris of
this Special Assembly to representatives of the Episcopate of the Middle East.
I am pleased at the broad cooperation provided thus far by the Eastern Churches
and for the work which, from the beginning, R.O.A.C.O. has done, and continues
to do for this historical event. This joint effort will have fruitful results
because of the presence of some of your representativ es at this episcopal gathering
and your ongoing relationship with the Congregation for the Eastern Churches.
Dear friends, I ask you to contribute with your works to maintain alive the
“hope that does not disappoint” among the Christians of the East
(Romans 5:5; cf. Instrumentum laboris, Conclusions). In the “little
flock” (Luke 12:32) that they make up already operating is the future of
God, and the “narrow way” that they are following is described by the
Gospel as “way of life” (Matthew 7:13-14). We would always like to be
by their side! Confident of the intercession of the most Holy Mother of God and
of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, I entrust to the Lord the benefactors,
friends and collaborators living and dead, joined in different ways to ROACO,
with a particular remembrance of monsignor Padovese, recently deceased, while I
impart to each one of you, to those who make up and those who su pport the
international agencies, as well as to all the beloved Eastern Catholic Churches
the comforting Apostolic Blessing.